The Christmas Present By James Michener It was the turn of the century and I was a mere boy of 10. During the summers, I cut the ...

Saturday, October 1, 2011

"FEELING HOMAKERISH? WATCH THE HOT PEPPERS!"

“FEELING HOMEMAKERISH? WATCH THE HOT PEPPERS!”

You know
how it is—you get into one of those moods to make something from scratch. It
makes you feel like such a homemaker. Happened to me a lot [still does at
times] especially in the late summer when friends gave me some hot peppers,
banana peppers and tomatoes. Got a recipe for a salsa of sorts [wasn’t called
it then] and had everything including onions.

I set in
to make this salsa and was just chopping away at the banana and hot peppers,
the tomatoes and the onions and feeling oh so great! Yes I had washed the
peppers and had also used my hands to take out the seeds prior to all of
this. I then took all the ingredients
and added vinegar and some spices; had about four quarts of this mixture. And I
felt so good about myself as I put them in the refrigerator—it was such a sense
of satisfaction.

This was
in September when I did this and it was a Friday night. Every Friday night
forever it seemed, I did my lesson plans for the week for I was a teacher. Dinner
had already been served earlier, my sons were in bed and not sure what my
then-husband was doing. Upstairs I went to work on my lesson plans and while
sitting there I felt a horrific hot feeling on my neck. Touched it and that
made it worse.

Thinking
it was nothing, I went back to writing my lesson plans and then my upper lip
felt hot—like really hot. By this time I was getting scared wondering what was
going on with me. The hotness intensified on my neck and upper lip and then it
went to my hands and arms. I felt like I was on fire! Rushed downstairs to find
a box of soda and mixed it with cool water and applied it to the hot places.
Didn’t help. And my hands were getting hotter and hotter. Tried cold water and
that only made the pain worse! Screamed, hollered and woke everyone up! The pain was that bad.

By four
in the morning, I had to call my doctor; explained what was going on with the
“on fire” feelings on my back, arms, lip and hands—and yes I told him about the
peppers. He told me that no one should ever touch the seeds with bare hands!
How was I supposed to know I thought to myself? No one had told me that ever.
But I had never asked either. He told me to apply Noxzema to the hot places and
to coat my hands it in; he hung up and I ran for the jar of Noxzema!

I sat in
a chair for hours just covered in Noxzema [a white cream in a jar] from my mouth
to my neck to my arms and hands. The pain was horrific! Can’t remember how long
it took for the pain to go away but it was days and not hours.

The next
morning in the newspaper was an article about making what I described above.
And right there in black and white it said: “Always wear gloves when seeding
peppers.” Well, too little too late for me! I never ever touched any kind of
pepper [except the normal green ones] ever without wearing gloves and still
won’t to this day. If you have never attempted to make what I did in the recipe
described above, please get some plastic gloves to wear—or you’ll wind up
calling your doctor!! Those seeds burn like the dickens.

About Me

I was an elementary teacher for 35 years but before and during teaching, I worked for 7 summers as a typist for the Dept.of Transportation. Have always written and painted in what seems like forever. I have a BS degree in Education and English and a masters degree in communication. Was a volunteer for Goodwill for 14 years during which time I served on the board of directors for 8 years. Writing and painting have been a part of my life since I was four; it is not something that I see as being audacious but more of something that is inside of me that has to surface. And I believe that everyone has a creative gene be it connected to music,acting, photography, design,advertising or any avenue that calls for creativity. It is what makes us unique. The Charleston Gazette has been so gracious in publishing many of my stories;some have been in the Charleston Daily Mail as well. And a friend of mine let me use his lobby for my first art show a year and a half ago. Dreams do come true. I have been published in The Charleston Gazette, The Daily Mail and http://usads.ms11.net/sherry2.html. Of late, I've self-published 11 Amazon Kindle E books. Be sure to check them out and thank you.